St. Louis Bridge Co. v. Miller

Citations

• 138 Ill. 465
• 28 N.E. 1091

Syllabus

<p>1. Bridge company—liability for negligence—duty to exercise care. It is the legal duty of a bridge company to exercise reasonable and or- • dinary care and prudence in the construction, management and super'vision of its bridge, for the safety and protection of persons using it,; and to make reasonable provision for the prevention of injuries from-■-causes likely to arise in the ordinary use of the bridge, although no ■specific expedient for the prevention of such injuries may have been .required, either by the law or defendant’s charter.</p> <p>2. If the construction of a railing or other barrier between its car'riage road and foot-way is the most obvious and appropriate expedientdor preventing injuries which, in the ordinary use of the bridge, are likely to happen to foot passengers, it is the duty of the bridge company to construct and maintain such railings or other barriers.</p> <p>3. A bridge company is liable for an injury resulting from negligence in the construction and maintenance of its structures, notwithstanding other parties or agencies not controlled by it may also have contributed to the injury. A person contributing to a tort, whether his fellow contributors are men, natural or other forces, or'things, is re-, sponsible for the whole, the same as though he had done all without, .help.</p> <p>4. Same—toll-bridge—higher degree of care. A bridge company, authorized to construct and maintain a toll-bridge, and to collect and' receive tolls of such persons as may make use of it, should be held to a higher degree of diligence in caring for the safety of passengers crossing the bridge than a corporation performing that service for the public gratuitously would be.</p> <p>5. In an action against a bridge company for the personal injury of the plaintiff while crossing an approach, from the stampede of a drove, ■of mules, the jury may consider the fact of the plaintiff's payment ofi toll, when it is alleged and proved, in passing upon the defendant’s] negl